Groups Seek Execution Pause

The State - In Brief

April 12, 2002

MIAMI -- Two civil rights groups want Florida to declare a moratorium on capital punishment because they say inmates are often convicted by faulty trials or incomplete evidence.

The local chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International launched a campaign in Miami on Wednesday to temporarily stop executions. The groups will sponsor a petition drive to persuade Gov. Jeb Bush to do so.

A total of 100 people across the nation who had been given a death sentence were later proved innocent, according to the ACLU. Of the 100 inmates cleared, 22 were once on Florida's death row, where 368 people are awaiting execution.